(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a battery assembly and to a method for cooling a battery assembly and more particularly, to a battery assembly including several batteries which are positioned within the battery assembly in a certain manner which is effective to allow the batteries to be selectively and efficiently cooled.
(2) Background of the Invention
Battery assemblies are typically formed from the electrical and physical coupling of several batteries. One example of a battery assembly is a series arrangement in which each of the batteries is deployed or resides upon a certain single axis and occupies a respectively unique location upon the axis. While such a series arrangement does desirably provide a relatively compact or flat arrangement which is easily deployable, even in locations having a limited amount of available mounting space, it is not efficiently cooled by the use of current battery cooling strategies.
That is, it is desirable to have each of the batteries be maintained at a substantially similar temperature in order to have each of the batteries maintain a substantially similar state of charge. It is further desirable to cause the temperature of each of the batteries to reside within a certain optimal temperature range in order to allow the batteries to efficiently operate and to protect the batteries from heat related damage. The batteries therefore must be cooled, from an external source, since the batteries typically generate heat when operating.
Cooling is typically accomplished by the use of a fan which selectively communicates air to the batteries. Particularly, the provided air typically traverses each of the batteries in a sequential manner (e.g., the air first contacts the battery which is closest to the location at which the air is provided and then traverses along the axis upon which the batteries reside, contacting each of the other batteries in an order which is dependent upon the respective location of the other batteries upon the axis).
This battery cooling strategy is not efficient since heat from each of the serially connected batteries is provided to the air as the air travels past and contacts each of the respectively coupled batteries. Hence, batteries which are located toward the end of the serial arrangement (e.g., batteries which are located at a relatively large distance from the location at which the air was initially communicated to the batteries) are not efficiently cooled since the air which contacts these batteries has an elevated temperature, and may even have become relatively hot.
The present invention overcomes these drawbacks in a new and novel manner while desirably allowing a series type battery arrangement to be efficiently utilized and desirably and selectively cooled, effective to allow the batteries to maintain a substantially similar state of charge.
It is a first non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a battery assembly which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior battery assemblies.
It is a second non-limiting advantage of the present invention to provide a method for cooling a battery assembly which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of cooling methodologies and strategies.
According to a first non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a battery assembly is provided. Particularly, the battery assembly includes a generally hollow housing; and a plurality of batteries which are disposed in a certain arrangement within the generally hollow housing, effective to form an air delivery path and to cause the pressure within the air delivery path to be substantially constant.
According to a second non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a battery assembly is provided. Particularly, the battery assembly includes a generally hollow housing; and a plurality of batteries which partition the interior of the housing into a first tapered portion and a second expanding portion.
According to a third non-limiting aspect of the present invention, a method for cooling a battery assembly of the type including a plurality of batteries is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a generally hollow housing; forming a first aperture within the housing; forming a second aperture within the housing; disposing the plurality of batteries within the housing in a certain arrangement; communicating air to the generally hollow housing through the first aperture, wherein the air traverses the generally hollow housing and emanates from the generally hollow housing through the second aperture, the certain arrangement of the batteries being effective to cause the speed of the traversing air to be substantially constant.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.